Vintage Baby Doll Party -6yr- Hat Craft

My daughter Emma absolutely loves playing baby dolls and anything to do with babies.  So for her 6th birthday party I set to work more than 6 months in advance planning a vintage baby doll shower. 

Invitations: I started by taking a photo of Emma laying on her stomach horizontal with her favorite baby dolls sitting around her.  I did the photo in black and white and hand tinted her hair and cheeks just like in a vintage photograph.  I placed the photo on a pre bought card that was pink with tiny white polka dots, above the photo I hand stamped the words Our Baby is 6! above that I placed vintage pastel lace and also placed the same lace along the bottom too.  On the inside it read Please join us for a baby doll shower! the Date, time and place at the bottom it also said *Don't forget your favorite doll or stuffed animal!*

Decorations: I scoured second hand stores for vintage baby planters (the kind florists use with the green foam to place flowers in)  I found many vintage and very cute planters for 25 to 50 cents each (the foam was not in any of them but I still washed them) I placed alternating pink and blue table clothes on the tables and placed the baby planters in the center along with a bouquet of pink blue and white balloons taped to the inside of the planter and then covered the tape with irridescent shredded paper. I also placed one of my daughters dolls next to each planter and my daughter and mother in law had bathed" them and dressed each one in a cute party outfit (most of her dolls wear real baby clothes size 0-3 or 3-6 month clothes) 

At the head of the food table I placed a white vintage highchair with one of my daughter's dolls dressed in a pink polka dot party dress and a vintage look hand made by me party hat that matched my daughters she also held a framed sign that read Welcome thank you for coming to my 6th birthday party! Your such a doll! Love Emma.  Behind the food table I strung a chenille penant BABY DOLL banner decorated with miniature baby items such as rattles pacifiers and vintage baby cards that I had purchased on Etsy.com.  Behind the dessert table I took tulle and strung it between 3 posts and hung baby clothing with clothes pins a very cute clothes line that looked too cute blowing in the wind.

Activities:  I had 2 activity tables set up. One with vintage scanned coloring pages of little girls playing with dolls I also placed a tin pail decorated with one of the vintage baby cards and some pink lace on the table and filled it with crayons it was a little windy that day so I took cute baby shoes (again a second hand store find)and placed a rock down inside to serve as cute paper weights placed on the stacks of coloring pages.

On the second activity table I had taken pink blue yellow and green constuction paper and cut it into rounded trianges for the girls to make party hats for their dolls I also placed crayons markers and stickers on this table so that they could make their babies hats unique. 

I also set up a baby play station using my daughters toys brought from home I brought her strollers high chair baby cradle and changing table (this had baby wipes powder and newborn pampers) and blankets laid out in a baby play area let me tell you this was quite the hit even with the playground (I had rented a pavillion at a local park) I took the best photos here since there was a lot of free play.  I did have a game planned stroller races through a crepe paper finish line but the girls were having so much fun playing with their dolls that I just didn't interrupt. 

Food: We just had traditional picnic foods hot dogs turkey sub which was cut up an placed on a vintage baby scale bags of chips etc for the individual bags of chips I placed them in a vintage suitcase with a baby dress my mom had worn hung on a vintage hanger and baby shoes set up randomly on the table.  For the kids drinks I bought little hug jugs and placed them over ice in a baby bath tub and placed straws for the drinks in the lotions holders at the bottom of the tub.  That looked too cute also. 

The dessert table had cute bowls with various types of candies and home made pink and blue chocolate baby bottle suckers and beautiful framed photos of Emma from birth to age 6 and the highlight the cake which was a beautiful baby quilt cake done in pastel colors (made by my mother in law)and placed very carefully in Emmas baby doll crib this was the center piece of the dessert table.  I had gotten a plastic cake platform and was going to place one of Emma's smaller baby dolls on top but didn't have the heart to after I saw how beautiful the cake was.  Last but not least the adorable favors

For the girls I again scoured the second hand stores for receiving blankets in very good condition I found plenty of cute ones and even a few were vintage  I washed and dryed all of these.  I also had clear treat bags with baby type images stamped on the outside that I filled with a baby bottle bubbles a candy ring bracelet and lipstick bazooka bubble gum pixie sticks and a vintage type card game (old maid crazy eights memory) found 3 in a pack at dollar tree I closed up the bag with pink curling ribbon tied at the top.  I folded the blanket in half corner to corner and folded the long half down 2-3 times and then placed the treat baby on its side on the inside and swaddled it just like a baby and tied ribbon around that also and curled the ends. 

For the boys I used the same treat bags but added a squirt gun and punching baloon in place of the baby bottle and blanket also tied at the top with blue curling ribbon.  I received so many compliments on the entire party and how I had gone all out and what a success.  But the best compliment of all was from my daughter who asked to have a baby doll party again next year because she loved this one so much.  "